New Buildings Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 680401509
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Portland, OR, USA
- Phone
- 5037617339
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,334,496
- Expenses
- $8,302,740
- Assets
- $5,165,051
- Liabilities
- $1,490,416
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHAEL COLGROVE (PRESIDENT)
- KATHRYN WRIGHT (VICE PRESIDENT)
- SUSAN STRATTON (INTERIM CEO FROM 9/2024 TO 2/2025)
Highest reported compensation
- RALPH DINOLA (CHIEF EXEC. OFFICER THROUGH 8/2024): $258,452 total reported compensation
- AMY CORTESE (PROGRAM DIRECTOR THROUGH 9/2024): $209,171 total reported compensation
- SMITA GUPTA (PROGRAM DIRECTOR THROUGH 6/2025): $191,709 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We advance best practices, codes, and policies through market leadership, research, guidance, and technical advocacy toward a built environment that equitably delivers community benefits and climate solutions.
What it reported doing in 2024
Codes and policies: energy codes continue to be a crucial lever in transforming markets for high performance buildings. Nbi's work in this program area included strengthening model building energy codes and increasing their use and usefulness. We also worked on developing the necessary thought leadership to overcome critical issues that are hindering code advancement and create the technical basis for progressive code and policy approaches such as decarbonized and stretch codes, as well as building performance standards. Nbi worked directly with leading local jurisdictions to implement these advanced code and policy strategies as well as to develop code and policy roadmaps.continued on schedule onbi also worked to support the expansion of codes and policy development to take a more holistic view of climate, focusing increasingly on carbon neutrality, health, and resilience. Several jurisdictions are developing zero energy and zero carbon roadmaps that set objectives for each code cycle, moving stringency along a path to ultimately reach these performance levels. Nbi worked successfully at the national level on model codes and standards and in several states and cities, including California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 68% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.6%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.7%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.6% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $258K · 21 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $858K reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.